Class of 1984 (1982)

Andrew Norris (Perry King) is a new teacher from Nebreska who has a run-in with the local toughs when he refuses to just look the other way like fellow teacher, Terry (Roddy McDowell) warns him to do. When the gang target his students (including a young Micheal J. Fox) as well as his pregnant wife, he has to take matters into his own hands. This b-movie from the '80's is amazingly great from the highly catchy Alice Cooper sung 'I Am the Future' to the many memorable quotes to the over the top ending. This is just a great piece of cinema and an '80's classic. Timothy Van Patton is a great foil as the leader of the gang. I VERY eagerly await the special edition DVD that's coming at the end of the summer.

My Grade: A

Eye Candy: Helena Quinton shows EVERYthing

Fmovies: One sub-genre of film that I have been neglecting for quite some time is the revenge movie. Sure, I've seen the EXTERMINATOR movies and DEATH WISH 3, but that was about it until I decided to watch CLASS OF 1984. It wasn't a film I'd wanted to watch; one night I just spontaneously decided to watch it for no reason. Boy oh boy was I surprised.

Andrew Norris is a young music teacher who has just accepted his first teaching position at Lincoln High School. Norris is shocked to find that Terry, a fellow teacher, carries a gun in his brief case and there are metal detectors at the doors. He soon discovers this is with good reason, given the amount of gangs and gang violence in the school, mostly by Peter Stegman, a punk whose drug-pushing gang "owns" the school and who just so happens to be a brilliant pianist. Andrew stands up to him, which leads to full-on war between the two until Stegman goes too far and pushes Norris over the edge.

CLASS OF 1984 is exploitation cinema at its finest, but the film is so accomplished that it almost feels too classy to be exploitation. The acting is nothing short of fantastic, featuring breakout performances by Perry King as the caring Norris who slowly begins to lose his patience, the always incredible Roddy McDowell as Terry, the man who has lost all hope in his teaching abilities and dreams of actually making a good change in these kids lives, and, of course, Timothy Van Patten as Stegman, who plays the role with a mix of suaveness, psychosis, and even tragedy at his wasted life. Oh, and Michael J. Fox also makes an early appearance as a good kid trapped in such a miserable world.

The film does a good job of building the antagonists up as completely despicable so by the final showdown between Norris and the gang, you are itching for them to die, yet they are sympathetic in a way. The film's pacing is superb as well, with each passing scene continually mounting the tension until the blood-soaked climax.

The film also captures quite aptly the total hopelessness some teachers face with their students, and even if you're not a teacher, you can still relate to it because we've all had that a-hole in our class that would never give the teacher a break. Only here, in classic exploitation fashion, these guys go beyond that. They actually set fire to Norris's car early on and slaughter all the animals in Terry's biology class.

But have no fear exploitation fanatics! This isn't exactly an art house film, as it is filled with full-frontal nudity and some graphic violence towards the end.

CLASS OF 1984 was a real surprise for me. I was expecting a gritty, grindhouse exploitation movie, and in most ways, that's what I got. However, the film is more than that. It's very professionally made, it's smart, and it's emotional. It really is depressing in some scenes building up to the climax, and I like that. The finale will quench any exploitation fan's quench for violence. Great acting, great characters, great story, great pacing, great violence, just great EVERYTHING all around.

Don't pass this one up; seek it out immediately.

Strong as well as brutal entertainment , set in the near future , and dealing with Andy (Perry King , he was the first and only actor considered for the role) , a man happily married to a pregnant wife called Diane (Merrie Lynn Ross) . He is a new music teacher who has his own ideas of discipline . He goes to work at an inner city high school that is like nothing he has ever seen before , as he must face off a motley crew of adolescents in the classroom . Ring leader is a student psychopath (Timothy Van Patten) , a baddie who doesn't seem human , he leads his groupies on a reign of terror through the high school halls . Meanwhile , a teacher (Roddy MacDowall , though Dennis Weaver was originally offered the role but turned it down as being too violent, and this character was inspired by several true stories of school violence director had read about in papers) has brought a gun to class to control his students . There takes place some murders and a police inspector (Al Waxman) starts investigating with no results . The ominous group carries out a gang rape , then the music teacher pull off his vendetta leading to an ever higher body count . As a high school teacher determines to enforce law and order by using all kind of means , including torture and killing . Class of 1984 , is this the future?

Well-remembered violent school drama from the eighties in which teenager gangs terrorize the entire high school and surroundings executing crimes and murders at random . This nasty as well as thoughtless film contains thrills , chills , intense drama , high body count and lots of violence . In fact , due to the films violent content Lester had a difficult time getting a US distributor for the film, though overseas numerous distributors bought the film and made it quite successful abroad . Upset at the violent content after a screening, screenwriter Barry Schneider had his name taken off the credits as a screenwriter of the final film . This is a bloody and gory remake update of ¨Blackboard jungle¨ (1955) . Nice acting by Perry King as an idealistic teacher in a slum area who fights doggedly to dominate his unruly students . Special mention to Timothy Van Patten playing as one of the worst villains of the cinema history and a brief role by subsequently famous Michael J Fox . As nearly every shot of Timothy Van Patten is done from a low angle, to make him more threatening. The picture achieved great success and some theaters showed the film on double bill with 'The Road Warrior (1981)' . Evocative cinematography , though a perfect remastering is urgent . Director of photography Albert J. Dunk was hired by Mark L. Lester after Lester saw his work in the film Incubus (1981). Thrilling and creaking musical score by Lalo Schifrin with initial song by Alice Cooper . The motion picture was professionally directed by Mark L Lester, who he calls this his best film . Being shot in 45 days and he cited 'Clockwork Orange (1971)' as the films biggest influence .

The original picture dealing with a teacher fighting students and violent confrontation in the classroom was ¨Blackboard jungle¨ (1955) by Richard Brooks with Glenn Ford , Anne Francis , Louis Calhern , Sidney Poitier , Vic Morrow , Paul Mazurski ; it was followed by this ¨Class of 84¨ by Mark L Lester ; continued by ¨Class of 1999¨ by Mark Lester with Malcolm McDowell , Bradley Gregg , Tracy Lind , Stacy Keach , Pam Grier , Patrick Kilpatrick ; and another sequel titled ¨Class of 1992¨ by Spiro Razatos with Sasha Mitchell , Nick Cassavetes ,and Richar

Class of 1984 fmovies. Class of 1984(1982) is trash at it's best. Punk kids running the schools, driving the teachers crazy. An idealistic teacher (Perry King) tries to change all that. But like all people who share his ideals in movies, they always run into a couple of bad eggs. This time "Teacher" has several of them,and their leader (Timothy Van Patten) who enjoys making the faculty go crazy. Everyone except "Teacher", he's from the "there's no such thing as a bad kid" school of thought. Boy, is he wrong. When those two bump heads, it's show time!! Over the top acting and mugging coupled with huge amounts of sleaze and bloody, bone crunching scrapping makes this one a winner. Check out the very young and pudgy Michael J. Fox! Roddy McDowall co-stars as a teacher who's seen way too much. One scene from this classic was shamelessly ripped off in 21 Jump Street!?

Highly recommended for cult fans.

I kinda hated this film when it first came out, thinking that it was unrealistic and ultra-violent, what with the metal detectors at the entrances to the high schools and depictions of punks, etc...little did I know. This film, a kind of update of "Blackboard Jungle" by way of "Clockwork Orange" and "Death Wish" is a fascinating look at an urban high school controlled by punk gang leader Stegman (Timothy Van Patten). Perry King plays the new music teacher, and he gives a decent performance. Roddy McDowell steals the show as the biology instructor. His best scene -- pointing a gun at his students and threatening to kill them if they get the wrong answer to a science question! This film is extremely well made, a classic b-movie that is first rate compared to junk like "The Faculty" or any of the other awful "I Know What you Did Last Summer" type of teen flicks out these days...

Class of 1984 (1982) is an entertaining and thought-provoking combination of the Vigilante and High School Drama flick. The film describes the punks as the next generation of important people. It was done as a reworking of Blackboard Jungle (it is much better than Cruel Intentions and more gutsy). Class of 1984 (1982) is an errie movie because the depiction of unsafe Urban high schools, metal detectors at schools, and security guards would be a reality eight years later in many high school cities. It is a courageous movie that isn't afraid to deal with important issues. Class of 1984 (1982) will be noted for the appearance of Michael J. Fox known in the credits as Michael Fox.